"Okay, I get that. But, come on, Clary. You really think that will work?"
Clary sighed, setting the phone down as she pulled on her gear. She could still hear Isabelle talking through the phone sitting on the bedside table. She had called Isabelle hoping that the other girl would give her reassurance about the new plan, not tear it apart. But maybe she had been hoping for the plan to be destroyed, so she would not have to go to Maine again.
"I don't know Iz, that's why I called you," Clary picked up the phone as she picked up her boots and fell back on her bed.
"Did you ask Jace about it?" Isabelle asked as Clary loosened the laces on the boots so she could put them on.
"He's not here," she answered, pinning the phone between her should and cheek as she laced up her combat boots. Isabelle thought she was still in Idris, at the Herondale estate, not at home.
"Where did he go?" Isabelle also thought Jace was in Idris, at the Herondale estate.
Where did Jace go? That was a good question, with an even better answer. He was still in that backwards little town trying to find the demon that was still eluding him. He had been there for the whole three months since their first encounter.
"He's still after that demon in Maine," Clary answered with a sigh, laying back across her bed and staring at the ceiling. "I thought you knew that."
"I thought you took care of that," Clary could hear the skepticism in Isabelle's voice.
It was rare that it took so long for Jace to take care of something. And once the Conclave in the area had been drawn out of hiding and the Clave learned what had happened, Jace had been backed with several of the best Shadowhunters in their pursuit of the demon and his controlled mundie. It should have been taken care of already.
So far, they had found nothing. That was putting Jace in a foul mood. It was putting Clary in a mood too; which was why she had called Isabelle.
"The Conclave is back, things are starting to look normal again. But we never caught the demon, or the head of those radicals spreading that story about the demon." Clary had been out there with Jace a lot. Trying to figure out what had really happened in that town, and why the demon had chosen it as his base. They had more questions and few answers.
"Sounds taken care of to me," Clary smiled standing up and sliding on a jacket she had borrowed from Jace. "And if you can't find the demon, how do you plan on finding his little mundie friend?" That was why she had called Isabelle after all, to hear how horrible her idea actually was as it was poked full of holes.
"I was thinking of doing things like a mundie," Clary answered pocketing her stele as she crossed the room for the door. "The girl's a mundie."
"Wouldn't she be excepting something like this then?"
"It's better than what Jace has been doing," Clary answered, closing the door to her room at her parent's house, descending the steps two at a time. Her step-father was in the living room reading, she waved to him as she passed through the room for the kitchen and back door. "Besides it might confuse them."
"Sounds reckless," Clary smiled at Isabelle's mocked concern.
"I learned from the best," she head hear the amusement in her voice and heard Isabelle stifle a laugh.
"Just be careful," she heard the laughter in Isabelle's voice, and imagined the way she shook her head as she gave the advice.
"I will Iz," Clary walked around the edge of the house, watching as cars rushed down the street. "I'll call you when I'm done."
She snapped the phone shut and turned to face the side of the house. How many times had she drawn a Portal on this very wall? How many places had she traveled to, starting here at Luke's house? She smiled as she drew yet another Portal.
It was time to stop thinking like a warrior. Clary had the feeling that if she could find the girl, she could wrap the whole Coldwater thing up. Since men were basically just looking for a fight, Jace had been waging war. Maybe Clary could just talk.
It was worth a shot.
Nora was tired of hiding. She had grown up in Coldwater, she had wandered the streets since before she could remember. And no cult was going to completely drive her underground, not in her home.
So Patch wanted her to stay out of sight. That was a discussion she was tired of having as well. If Patch was going to parade around, trying to find these people, Nora was going to attempt and maintain her normal life.
Nora wanted to go to the beach. She wanted to sit in a restaurant, any restaurant, and not have to prepare her meal herself. She wanted to be around people, not nephils reporting in about these Shadowhunters and their movements. Since Patch would go postal if she was out too long, Nora would just have to content herself with an afternoon out with Vee.
"So, should we like, eat someplace? Or hit the pier for a few hours?" Vee asked as she pulled her car into a parking spot. "We could just wander the streets, I guess. Window shop, since we're still poor," Vee shrugged shutting off her car.
"I don't care what we do," Nora smiled as she climbed out onto the street. "I'm just glad to be around people again."
"I hate to break it to you, but last time I checked the nephilim counted as people Nora."
"You know what I mean," Nora laughed as they started down the street, shouldering her bag as Vee fell in step beside her. "Normal people, who don't know about the war, what Patch is, what we are," she motioned between herself and Vee.
"We are best friends, who are hanging around Coldwater, Maine when we literally have eternity to see the world," Vee answered Nora's unasked question snidely. "None of these problems would be problems if you left Coldwater after you took over Hank's army and then sent them packing."
"I like it here!" Nora defended herself loudly.
"So do I, but come on Nora, hanging around here, not the best move," Vee waved her arms around enthusiastically.
"And where would you have gone?" Nora arched her brow skeptically at Vee.
"I'm thinking England," Vee answered wistfully. "I've always wanted to see England, and Scotland, maybe Spain." Vee shrugged philosophically, as they turned into a shop.
"You have forever to do that, we'll only be this age once Vee. Don't you want to be teenagers here, where we grew up?"
Vee frowned, giving feigned thought to the question Nora had presented. "No, I'd rather be in Europe, actually," Vee finally answered, "meeting hot European boys who speak a romantic language with incredibly sexy accents."
"You're hopeless," Nora grinned at Vee wrapping her arm through her best friend's. "Come on, let's do some serious window shopping before I go back into hiding."
Nora and Vee spent the afternoon wandering around Coldwater, though Vee spent most of her energy telling Nora all the reasons she and Patch could and should move to anywhere else in the world. Nora half listened to her.
Nora was content in Coldwater, it would be better if the Shadowhunters left. And Vee's claims that leaving Coldwater would end the Shadowhunter issue seemed hollow to Nora. It seemed to Nora that there were multiple sects of this cult; at least that was the impression she got from her brief meeting with the pair who first showed up and attacked Patch. The two had been looking for others, for more Shadowhunters who were supposed to be living in Coldwater.
She felt there would be others anywhere they went. No matter where they went, there would be other Shadowhunters, others trying to kill Patch or banish him back to Hell.
Vee was not seeing that though. Vee was not one to look at the big picture, she focused on one thing at a time. Vee's current problem was not that there were Shadowhunters everywhere, just in Coldwater. If Nora went anywhere, she and Patch would still be facing the same problem.
"I'm spent," Vee sighed as the sun began to sink toward the horizon. "We should grab some food and then head back."
"Yea," Nora agreed watching the crowded street around them. She was always wary of crowded streets. It was something she wished was not so ingrained in her mind. Something she wished was not an issue, worrying about who might be in the crowd on Main Street.
"Can you pay attention?"
"I am," Nora turned back to Vee, realizing belatedly that she had suggested a place to eat. "It sounds great," she lied with a smile, hoping the restaurant in question was one Nora liked.
"Did you see something?" Vee asked, looking over her shoulder where Nora had been looking when she zoned out.
"No," Nora answered without realizing that she had given herself away. She had not seen anything, she hardly ever saw them. But Nora knew the Shadowhunters were still there, they had been there for three months, despite Vee's assurances that they had all cleared out.
"Shame," Nora and Vee jumped hearing someone standing between them. "I saw plenty of people out there."
It was the girl, the one who had been there the night Patch was attacked, the one who had wounded Patch. She stood between Nora and Vee, smiling almost pleasantly as she looked between the two of them, her red hair vibrant against her black faux leather jacket and dark shirt.
"I know you were talking about food. I'm a little hungry myself, so I'll buy. And we can talk," she offered, her green eyes catching Nora's and holding them carefully. "I'm Clary, by the way. Clary Fray," she held her hand out.
"Nora, Nora Grey," for some reason Nora took Clary's hand and shook it. "This is my friend Vee Sky."
"It's nice to meet you, both of you," Clary smiled shaking Vee's hand as well; "So, how about that food? I haven't eaten in about six hours."
Nora felt like lying to this girl, saying that she and Vee had no intentions of eating. But she knew that would never work, it was clear that Clary had been following them all afternoon. She had specifically mentioned eating, and she had offered to pay for the meal.
Nora opened her mouth to decline, but that was when her stomach decided to give her away. Nora's mouth snapped shut quickly as she looked away from Clary. Clary smiled.
"Any place you want, as much as you want, my treat," Clary offered again, stepping back and motioning toward a café just down the street.
"What's the catch?" Vee narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Clary, finally seeing the encounter as odd.
"No catch, I just want to talk," Clary answered innocently.
"About what?"
Clary shrugged, "anything really. It's been a long time since I talked to anybody about anything besides fighting."
"What? None of your Shadowhunter pals like to gossip?" Vee snipped looking down her nose at Clary as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Oh, they gossip plenty," Clary responded, unfazed by Vee's behavior. "But they gossip about war, and fighting, and training, and how to kill demons, and Downworlder politics, and the weather." Clary shrugged again, turning on her heel and starting down the street, "it's pretty boring actually. I just wanted to hang out with you. But if you'd rather not, I guess I can't make you."
"Good," Vee watched Clary walked down the street, stll heading for the café. "We didn't want her charity food anyway."
Nora opened her mouth to agree, but that was when her stomach decided to rumble again. She looked after Clary, the only friendly Shadowhunter she had encountered, despite the fact that she had been one of the first to arrive and attacked Patch.
"Hey, Clary, wait up," Nora started after the girl, pulling Vee along behind her.
She would probably regret this decision. She knew most she would regret it. But food was too tempting an offer.
Besides that, it was possible she could learn something by talking to Clary. If she asked the right questions, Nora could learn all about the Shadowhunters and why they were after Patch. And, if nothing else, she would at least get to eat her fill for the first time in months.
Jace stretched out of the seat where he had been watching the street. He was not accustomed to sitting still for so long, he needed action. He needed to find the demon so he could move on.
Three months was too long a stretch to be working on the same case. Three months was far too much time between sightings for the demon. Jace would have assumed the demon left, except the local mundane still talked about seeing him. It seemed he was as elusive as Sebastian had been. That was bothering Jace.
Two too many people were capable of evading him. Jace was better than that, he had found Sebastian, he could find this guy too; with or without help from the Clave and local Conclave. At least, that had been his belief two months before.
Now he was running out of ideas on how to find the demon. Clary had basically given up as well, which was unlike her. Jace sighed, rolling his shoulders as he walked down the street, toward one of the small locally owned diners. It was like eating at Taki's, except for the lack of Downworlder foods and patrons. There was a surprising lack of Downworlders in Coldwater, it was as unsettling as the missing demon.
"Maybe I should call Magnus, see if he has any ideas," Jace mused to himself, striking through his invisibility rune so he could be seen by the mundanes. "If anything, Alec could come help me," he continued talking to himself, watching the street for the local nephilim or the demon.
Maybe that was what he really needed, some time with Alec, his parabatai. The last mission they had been on together had been close to six months ago, before one of Magnus' whirlwind vacations around the world. Since then Jace had been busy, cleaning at the Herondale estate, training with Clary, teaching at the Academy, helping at the L.A. Institute…
He really just needed time with Alec. Alec would know what to do. Alec always knew what to do. And the two of them understood one another; it would make finding this demon as simple as weapons training.
That was what it was. Too much time away from Alec, Jace decided, reaching in his pocket for his phone. A simple text could solve that too. One word is all it would take to get Alec at his side.
Jace opened his phone, pulled up his last text from Alec and started to type a reply. But he stopped there, without typing a single letter. He was almost eighteen, practically an adult. He was being backed by the entire Clave to find this demon, who had claimed to have saved countless Shadowhunters' lives, the same Shadowhunters who had mysteriously vanished from the area.
Jace Herondale did not need to call on Alec every single time he hit a snag in the road. Jace Herondale could handle one demon without calling on his parabatai. Jace Herondale was too awesome to need someone else to solve this mystery.
Jace snapped his phone shut and returned it to his pocket, looking up as he started through the outdoor dining area of his chosen restaurant. He could do this, he was Jonathan Herondale. He did not need Alec, and he did not need Clary to help me either.
Jace ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his face as he entered the restaurant. He cast a quick look around the dining area, seeking out a good place to sit so he could see the door and listen in on the local's conversations. He had just picked out a good seat when he saw Clary.
She was seated at a small table with two locals. One of them had been the girl conspiring with the demon, someone Jace had been unable to locate in the three months he had been roaming the streets of Coldwater. Clary seemed to be enjoying herself, with the girl and another local, which was surprising for Jace. He had been unable to find her, and Clary was eating with her.
Apparently she was doing something right.